Scar Tests 

It's one thing to just rotate an object, but the fact that both characters are still acting, being expressive and synced to dialogue makes it actually insane

I know, it’s literally so impressive his skill is insane

Its very reminiscent of the scene he made in Steven Universe

They're not just rotating Simba and Scar but they're rotating the background as well, just rotating the two for them would be turning in circles but they go so far as to rotate the entire background

Almost all Baxter's pencils move and rotate like 3D!! It's amazing! Just put atention in the form of the head, jaws, nose, eyes on Scar.

Skill*

@@Tebsi_a heh true

I know, it's actually insane. I thought they used CGI to some capacity to pull it off, til I learned about Baxter a few years ago. Then I knew he just drew it cause he's a legend.

@@princessmeg999 Actually, no cg or maquette help on this one. I’m just being careful. You can kind of tell because when you look at the Simba drawings it’s the profiles and the front and back views which are more heavily worked on in the first rough stage. This was me taking my time to get these 4 important drawings right before breaking it down. Next up are all the three quarter views, breaking it down into eight positions - those are a little heavier in there line work as I’m searching for exactly the right spot to turn that form in space. As it gets broken down more the line placement becomes easier and therefore lighter in the rough stage.

Okay sure. I'm actually going to copy and paste a reply I posted about a year ago on another video, but if you want me to go into more detail, let me know. Here it is - Fortunately, it's only rotating in one axis, not flying all around (we'll get to that later). First, I elaborated on a sketch done by the layout artist showing the action from above, so that I could plan out where Scar, Simba, and the imaginary "camera" would be in order to catch all the most important parts of the acting. Then I took my time to draw a really nice ellipse on the ground-plane and divided it into eight sections like a big pizza. This "wheel" was my turntable which would rotate one slice every 16 frames and give me something to plant the characters on. I knew that the ground would not be in the final shot, but I wanted to do it anyway because I'm a loony. Then I drew my best attempt at a profile of Simba, and then a front view, being very careful with the proportions. To do the other profile, I took the first one and flipped the paper over to use as reference. Then I did a back view. Then breaking down these 4 positions, I added 3/4 views being very careful to move things out and around, like they are on a wheel, and not just in between. Then I just kept on breaking it down, adding more drawings being very careful with the placement and spacing. To do Scar, I decided that he would take a step every 16 frames. That would make it easier because my imaginary wheel on the ground was rotating one section every 16 frames. That way I could go through and draw the same phase of the walk (in this case the down position on his front legs, passing position on his back legs) every 16 frames on the next section of the pizza. Then, just like Simba, it was a question of breaking it down, adding more drawings, from 16s, to 8s, to 4s, to 2s, and finally to being all on 1's. Of course, to do this right, you have to know how a cat walks! Other shots in other movies that I have done which have cg backgrounds and are flying all over the place are a little harder. It means planning out the action carefully so that you can commit to a frame that a drawing will be on, there's no way to re-time your keys later. If you want to change the timing you have to redraw it because the background perspective will have shifted. Then you spend a lot of time on those key drawings to make sure they seem solid and in perspective before filling in the rest of the drawings. Luckily, computer moves are predictable and usually smooth, so if you concentrate on good arcs and good spacing, you can usually match it pretty well. Movies like Prince of Egypt and Spirit started to put in special extra cg cameras for the animators on these kind of shots to remove most of the big movement of the main camera and make it easier to animate in one spot. Then the animation would be tracked back into the main camera move. It made it a little easier. Also in Spirit, there were a couple of shots where I had a full cg horse model standing on the hill to use as reference, super easy!

@@jamesbaxter1236 thank you for this detailed reply! I can't imagine how long you'd studied cat and lion anatomy to get this to look real and have personality

@@jamesbaxter1236Wow. You’re truely an inspiration for me among many other. It’s animators like you who make me want to be one and I’m striving to be one every day. Thank you James Baxter, you are truely one of the greats.

@@jamesbaxter1236 I understood. Thank you very much for your response, James. I am immensely grateful. ✨😃🙏✨

​@@jamesbaxter1236thank you!

YOOOOOOOOOO

It belongs in a museum!